Video Premiere: Christina Perri, “Arms”

Conceptually, the You Oughta Knowartist‘s dream-sequence video is a winner?Perri’s narrator wanders restlessly across air, sea, and land, and only finds peace beside her love.

Not bad for a song about faith in love ultimately overcoming an urge to flee born of insecurity and fear! But while Perri’s arms communicate plenty about what’s changed, framing the shots identically would have been particularly potent.

The execution is similarly spotty throughout. When Perri floats into the air, wrapped in her sheet, the sequence seems neither real nor dream-unreal (link NSFW) enough. But once she plunges underwater and is rescued by her band, the video regains momentum.

The rain doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t seem particularly necessary either. Perri and band can (and do) communicate the song’s emotions powerfully without high-concept trappings, so even when the visuals are effective, they’re ancillary.

Luckily, the video includes plenty of vocal close-ups, which let Christina Perri sing her song. Which is the goal here.